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Bullet train project on fast track! Pre-construction activity for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail picks speedPre-construction activity like shifting of utilities and acquisition of land is underway, with work likely to start by April 2020.

With trains being run every half an hour between 6 am and 12 am, 24 bullet trains would have to be procured from Japan.Aiming to make the Rs 1.08-trn Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project operational by December 2023, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) has put pre-construction work for the 508-km-long High-Speed Rail (HSR) line on the fast track. In what has come as a boost, the Gujarat High Court recently dismissed 100 odd pleas challenging the land acquisition process for the project.

NHSRCL, the implementing agency for India’s first HSR project, has decided to start construction work on the green zone (cleared land) by April 2020, with the tendering process having been initiated. Says Achal Khare, managing director of NHSRCL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by the Ministry of Railways and Gujarat and Maharashtra governments, “Pre-construction activity is in full swing. Shifting of utilities like cables, oil wells and other structures, apart from 25,000 trees, enroute the project corridor has been taken up on war-footing.”

The corridor has been divided into 27 segments across Gujarat and Maharashtra. Out of these, tenders for nine major segments worth around Rs 50,000 crore have been invited and are likely to be awarded in the next few months. Tenders for the remaining segments will be awarded by the end of the current fiscal, Khare says, adding, “massive civil works will need to be carried out since over 90% of the line between Sabarmati and Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai is elevated.”

From the BKC where it would begin, the corridor would extend 21 km underground before it reaches Thane. Of this 21-km tunnel, 7 km would be undersea, a choice made to avoid damaging vegetation in the area. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) would fund nearly 80% of the project through a 50-year loan, with the remaining cost being borne by Gujarat and Maharashtra.

In all, there would be 12 railway stations on the line including the terminuses: Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and BKC in Mumbai. Of these, Sabarmati, Kalupur (Ahmedabad station), Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Bilimora and Vapi are in Gujarat, while the rest—Boisar, Virar, Thane and BKC—fall in Maharashtra.

NHSRCL officials have been liaising with ONGC, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL), Gujarat Energy Transmission Company Ltd (GETCO), the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara and the authorities in Maharashtra to shift utilities falling enroute the proposed link. Work for the relocation of railway buildings has started and five oil wells owned by the ONGC are being shifted. More than 1,600 electrical utilities owned by the two states are also being shifted, apart from 150 extra high voltage lines.

It is government and railways-owned land that would be largely used for the project. Out of the 1,400 hectares of private land needed, 620 hectares have been acquired so far. Since the deadline for the first trial run of the bullet train between Surat and Bilimora is August 2022, the land acquisition process is being accelerated. The NHSRCL is confident of land issues being resolved amicably since6.5 times the published Jantri rate is being offered as compensation to landowners.

With trains being run every half an hour between 6 am and 12 am, 24 bullet trains would have to be procured from Japan. As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, six trains would be assembled in India. As per primary estimates, an end-to-end ticket would be priced at Rs 3,000.

As a special purpose vehicle (SPV), how are you proceeding with the awarding of tenders?Mr. Khare: We have a total of 27 packages, where two packages are for supervision. If you take out supervision, we have 25 packages. Out of this, we have already done two for the training institute and one more is being finalised. This leaves us with 23 packages for the main project, where one is again for supervision. Among 22 packages, we have already invited our biggest tender for C4, which is a 234-km viaduct plus four stations, starting from Vapi up to Vadodara, which is about 237-km. We have also invited tenders for a smaller viaduct from Vadodara to Ahmedabad. The tender for the undersea tunnel and two bridges have been invited. The tenders will be opened in November or December.

In July this year, the Parliament was informed that Indian Railways had acquired nearly 40 percent of the land for the project. Will you still be able to meet the advanced deadline for launching the first service by 2022?Mr. Khare: Allow me to clarify that the date of 2022 is not for the full project. Since it also happens to be the 75th year of our Independence, the Prime Minister had asked if a stretch be done as a gift to the nation. So, we are trying to finish a 50-60 km section, although it’s a very ambitious target.

As for acquiring land for the project, we have completed nearly 50 percent of the task. But that varies from district to district. In certain districts such as Vadodara and Ahmedabad, the percentage is quite high, while in others it is lower.

I am sure land acquisition is a huge challenge?Mr. Khare: In any linear project, land acquisition is a much bigger challenge. We require around 1,400 hectares of land and the difficulty level is owing to the number of people that one has to interact with, compensate and rehabilitate. We are doing land acquisition in 297 villages and the problem is that we are interacting with around 7,500 plot holders!

Relocation of UtilitiesSomething that hasn’t appeared on any media platform is the project involving the relocation of a lot of utilities. Tell us something about that.Mr. Khare: To be precise, there are 1,633 overhead utilities on that stretch. So, you have low, high and extra-high tension wires. Relocating them is an onerous task in itself. Then you have to deal with different agencies. In Gujarat, you have Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO), while in Maharashtra you have Mahatransco. Then there are powerlines of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), Torrent, Tata Power and Essar, with each one of them having its own set of rules and procedures. Huge coordination is required. Then there are underground utilities that are not visible and pose a much bigger challenge.

A young girl at IIT Gandhinagar has developed equipment to help us to identify underground utilities. It is an equipment that can detect metal parts up to three metres below the ground. Although it has its limitations, we have been using it to the maximum extent possible. Plus, we are in touch with all service providers such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), municipalities and gas utilities. The last is the most critical underground utility since one can’t touch it unsupervised. In Gujarat, we have found small gas pipelines everywhere. Similarly, ONGC has a big presence in the state.

Video presentation as to how Catenary cable is being strung via a mechanized process on the Western DFC. OHE on Western DFC is high mast to accommodate double stack container freight to Gujarat ports and JNPT. Contact wire is at 7.57m above rail level in all of Gujarat and Rajasthan wherever double stacked container freight passes as on Delhi-Ahmedabad route or Palanpur-Viramgam and Kandla ports.

Here is a OMAC-Italy tutorial of what you see above ^^^^ Recall from the wave equation the wave speed of disturbances along a wire is of the order of (T/p)^{1/2} where p is the density of the copper wire mass/length and T the tension in the wire. So the tension should be such that the disturbances move away from the contact point of the pantograph and the wire at a speed faster than that of the train. On IR this is usually, 400 kg to 665 kg depending on the pulley ratio; 5:1 or 3:1 respectively. The standard height of the contact wire to rail is 5.60m like between Delhi-Howrah. High mast is 7.57 m like above high mast on both WDFC and Delhi-Ahmedabad IR routes and IR routes to Viramgam from Palanpur(Gujarat) and Kandla port. WDFC will be high mast all the way to JNPT. Of course WR is 5.60m between Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad.

In reply to a supplementary, the Railways Minister said that there are several bullet trains under consideration.

“As regards the bullet train, several projects are under consideration all across the country and at an appropriate time once the decisions are made we will let the House know,” he said.

Mr. Goyal said RTIS gives mid-section updates with a periodicity of 30 seconds and the Train Controllers can now track the location and speed of RTIS enabled locomotives/train more closely, without any manual intervention, which helps in improving the efficiency of train control.

“This real time data of RTIS is also linked with the National Train Enquiry System (NTES). Now more accurate train running information is being passed to passengers, which helps them conveniently plan their arrival at the stations.

“Further, it is extremely handy for emergency messaging from locomotive to control centre, helping in faster response in case of any breakdown or disaster,” he said in his written reply.

The Minister said originally, RTIS was planned to be installed in 2700 locomotives. Additional funds for installation of RTIS in 6000 more locomotives have been sanctioned in 2019, he told Members.

Rail network to be electrifiedThe entire rail network will be electrified in India which is the only country in the globe that is experimenting to convert diesel engines into electric, he said. This is being done in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment towards environment protection, Mr. Goyal said.

“Till now six old diesel locomotives have been converted into three twin electric locomotives at Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi which is a production unit of Indian Railways,” Mr. Goyal said.

These conversions being prototype and since a lot of existing material from discarded locomotives were reused, it is not possible to ascertain the exact cost at this stage, he said.

NHSRCL is currently engaged in implementing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project which is India’s maiden high-speed line. These are the six additional lines which have been proposed.

753 KM Mumbai-Nashik-Nagpur corridor711 KM Mumbai to Hyderabad corridor via Pune865 KM Delhi-Noida-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi corridor886 KM Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad corridor435 KM Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore corridor459 KM Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar corridorThe NHSRCL has been asked to hire a consultant to study factors like project cost, market demand and construction specifics. The DPR after completion would be sent to the railway board for review. It will be forwarded to the union cabinet after approval.

The entire ‘A’ team of the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF) behind India’s first semi-highspeed train Vande Bharat – toasted around the country not so long ago as a symbol of a new India – is now faced with the threat of a vigilance inquiry.

Nine officers, each integral to turning out the train – popularly called Train 18 – at record low costs and within challenging deadlines, have been sent a questionnaire seeking justifications for decisions taken by them as far back as 2016 at the ICF.

At least one of the nine officers has written to Chairman, Railway Board, V K Yadav, calling the questionnaires a vendetta and an attempt to “sabotage the Vande Bharat” project, one of the “greatest make-in-India success stories.”

The officer has alleged that while the ICF is being accused of delays on the one hand, on the other the Research Design and Standards Organisation(RDSO) has changed the specs for new Vande Bharat trains to such an extent that it has made meeting deadlines impossible. Calling the threat of avigilance inquiry an attempt at “fixing officers”, the officer says he fears this will “kill the Vande Bharat initiative forever.”

The Railway Board, in response to mail sent by Mirror, said the questionnaires were sent after receiving a number of complaints against the officers and after an investigation by the vigilance department noted “irregularities in the procurement of propulsion system for EMU/MEMUs (suburban trains) and Train 18.”

The officer who has written to the chairman, Railway Board, has also alleged that the threat of vigilance action against the nine officers is an attempt to get international companies involved in the manufacturing of semi-high speed trains. The letter says that he is aware of an “import proposal for 60 semihigh speed trainsets costing over Rs 25,000 crore”which cites “delays in manufacturing of Vande Bharat trains at ICF.”

The officer is referring to a proposal dated August 19, 2018 prepared by the Railway Board for the involvement of foreign players in the manufacturing of Train 18-type trains in India that weigh slightly less than the Vande Bharats.

Mirror is in possession of the letter written by the angry officer to the Railway Board and a copy of the Railway Board proposal to get foreignmanufacturers involved in the Vande Bharat project. Interestingly, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has often tweeted his admiration for the team behind the Train 18 success. In October this year, he tweeted that Vande Bharat has become a symbol of self-confidence in India. “The trainset meets the best of international standards and is entirely an accomplishment of Indian engineers. I bow before the hard work of these people,” he wrote.

The Board, however, does not seem to share his view. One of the officers who has received the questionnaire said the feeling is that the ICF is “under siege”. He has every small decision he and his colleagues took is being questioned. “It is a shock. After being feted for our work, suddenly aspersions are being cast on our integrity,” he said.

Another officer under scrutiny said he has been asked 24 questions, each related to decisions he took in connection with tenders issued during his time at ICF. “What is the message being sent – is it a crime to take decisions? Or is it that all the praise that Vande Bharat received is working against us now? And why is this talk of involving foreign manufacturers. Is Vande Bharat a success or is it not?” he asked.

A senior serving railway officer, who did not wish to be identified, said the notices are a clear case of witch-hunt. “If this inquiry goes ahead, why would any officer go out of his way to get things done fast? This will only instill a sense of fear among officers and slow down the decision making in the railways,” he said.

What has the above got to do with what is being written!!! Clearly there is turf battle doing on in the railway ministry and the minister is not being able to resolve it. This will now be almost a year that this thing is happening and no resolution as yet. Perhaps PMO needs to step in.

Unfortunately, have seen this over and over in PSUs. We stifle innovation with processes and procedures designed to prevent corruption, while corruption occurs in other places in full view. If something like this can happen to PM’s pet project, what chance does an Arjun or Tejas have to succeed?

The Chief Administrative Officer at the Rail Wheel Plant in Bihar, Mr Shubhrangshu, wrote to Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav and says of the vigilance probe that "the purpose seems to be to sabotage the indigenous train forever and to kill initiative. The intent behind such 'fixing of officers' and creating terror is well understood."

He noted that nothing incriminating had come out in the vigilance probe that started six months back on the procedural violations in component procurement for rolling out Train 18 in a record 18 months.

"What started as accusations of violating procedures against the innovative, bold and nationalistic team of ICF (Integral Coach Factory, Chennai) later evolved into a full bloom vigilance inquiry," Mr Shubhranshu said.

A retired ICF official on conditions of anonymity told IANS that the initial complaints about Train 18 were thought to be by some jealous officials.

"But now it seems it is part of an elaborate plan to sabotage India's attempts to roll out semi high speed trains and breaking into the elite club of such train makers," he said.

"I have learnt that an import proposal for sixty trainsets have been made costing over Rs 25,000 crore citing delay in production of Vande Bharat Express by ICF," Mr Shubhranshu said in his letter.

"So, what started as an inquiry into alleged corruption in ICF and what was intended to create more competition and level playing field has turned out into a sinister exercise to import when we should have been proudly exploring export markets," Mr Shubhranshu told the Railway Board Chairman.

"I feel that this inquiry into so called irregularities was designed to sabotage the greatest 'Make In India' success story," he added.

Contrary to media reports, Mr Shubhranshu in his letter dated August 19, 2019, to Mr Yadav said the tender for electrics for the first two trainsets was won by an Indian company Medha on L1 basis.

"In fact, two other bidders M/S Bombardier and M/S Siemens, were given counter offers as per rules, but they declined," he said.

Refuting the charge that the tender specifications were tailored to suit the Indian company, he said Siemens and Bombardier, the major propulsion systems suppliers, had quoted their rates without any reservations and also took part in the pre-bid meetings but lost out on price.

In the latest tender, Siemens, Alsthom and Bombardier did not quote despite his personal requests to the top officials of these companies while Cummins, CAF, BHEL, Medha, Titagarh and CRRC had participated in the tender.

THere is a news item somewhere in which Railway Board has clarified that their is no proposal to import train sets currently. Saw someone giving pic of such news from Times. But I cannot find it on Internet. If someone can find out link, please post.

Four train sets were supposed to have manufactured by March 2019, IIRC. Even if we assume all the manufacturing was paused till all tests were finished, which was sometime in early this year (Vande Bharat started running in Feb 2019), in last 10 months we have seen only 1 train set, which also I think was part of the very first batch of two. Given the speed of development of Train18 in mere 18 months, its difficult to believe, in last 10 months, only one train set could be made. Or is it the case that the people who are now leading the program are not at well motivated and competent as the original team was..?? Even if the above news says there is no plan to import the trainsets, there is no garanttee the tenders will not be rigged in favor of MNCs putting ridiculous conditions like "prior experience of supplying to G8 or G20 countries" and so on.

If there is so much noise being made with names of the original Train 18 team members, who were themselves very senior officials, there must be something brewing. Else those officials need not have said anything, or would have refuted if their comments were misused to create false narrative. But on the other hand there are so many instances where media has used such situations to create negative feeling against the current Govt. Its difficult to know who is telling the truth currently. We need clarity from the Railway Minister on this. And GOI should take this opportunity to fire the traiters from the IR, if they found any, and its not too much stretch of an imagination to assume there are atleast a few.

I think, IR should have re-hired the now-retired Train 18 team members on contract basis and allowed them to continue to run the show on this program until its well settled. We need such good people at empowered positions. Officials like S.Mani has shown they are worthy to continue working in everywhichway.

Get ready for world-class private trains; Indian Railways moves closer to leasing out 100 routes

Following the intervention of the Empowered Group of Secretaries, which is chaired by Amitabh Kant- the NITI CEO, the Railway Board finalised the proposal after deciding on how to bring in private investment to operate passenger trains.private trainsEach of the private entities will be allowed to bid for at least 12 trains and a maximum of 30 trains in order to ensure competition.As part of its plan to lease out a minimum of 100 routes to private operators to run as many as 150 passenger trains, the Modi government is all set to invite investments worth about Rs 22,500 crore in rolling stock. The proposal is scheduled to be taken up next week at this month’s sitting of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), according to an IE report. Following the intervention of the Empowered Group of Secretaries, which is chaired by Amitabh Kant- the NITI CEO, the Railway Board finalised the proposal after deciding on how to bring in private investment to operate passenger trains.

According to sources quoted in the report, the biggest point of contention is the amount the national transporter would charge private players as “haulage charge” or track-access charge. It is learnt that one section of policymakers have favoured keeping the haulage charge low to make the business model attractive, while the other section has internally expressed that this might not be in the best interests of Indian Railways financially.

According to the report, it is being expected by Indian Railways that the bidders will include tour operators, travel firms, rolling stock companies, companies working in the rail sector and airline operators. Each of the private entities will be allowed to bid for at least 12 trains and a maximum of 30 trains in order to ensure competition. Also, it has been reported that each private train will consist of at least 16 world-class standard coaches. The companies could lease the rolling stock if they do not own it, the report added.

Not sure if IR will use the tracks along with pvt player, or the entire route will be leased to pvt players. Hope the tracks are upgraded to be able to support semi HSR trains such as train 18 or pendolinos.

Trial engine ran on EDFC on the up line between Bhadan--Bhaupur(Kanpur) on Dec 2nd. Down line will be completed hopefully by end of December as 500m is left for installation of part of a rail over rail flyover west of Etawah for Etawah bypass over the Delhi-Howrah mainline at Malajani. EDFC avoids Etawah and makes a big loop north of the city before joining Howrah-Delhi tracks again and running parallel to it.

Khurja-Bhadan 190km is already commissioned. Once Bhadan-Kanpur is commissioned then Khurja(Delhi)-Kanpur EDFC 343 km will be commissioned and some congestion relieved on the dense Kanpur-Delhi line which is perhaps one of the most congested IR sections. It will take 6-8 months after the trial run for full commissioning as happened between Khurja-Bhadan. OHE equipment has to be commissioned and loop lines at DFC stations completed and also communications equipment integrated. MoS Railways Suresh Angadi had visited the Rail over bridge in early November and directed DFC to prepare for trials by the end of December between Bhadan-Kanpur. There are 3 DFC stations between Bhadan(excl) and Bhaupur(excl) New Ekdil, New Achalda and New Kanchausi. Bhaupur is the start of the big loop bypass around Kanpur.

With the commissioning of a new panel and automatic signalling in Tundla yard and major yard re-modelling, the last manually set signals in a major and one of the busiest yards in North India is a thing of the past on the Delhi-Kanpur route. The old system installed in 1955 needed 5 cabins to direct rail movement and 5-7 minutes to set the path of the train. The modern unit takes 30-60 seconds to set the path of the train and is fully centralized and can handle more than 250 train movements a day as opposed to the old system that had a maximum capacity of 200 trains a day. Length of yard lines have been increased during the re-modelling to allow longer passenger and freight trains running through Tundla. A lot of the freight traffic was diverted to the EDFC when the yard work and signal upgrade was being done. With this and the future commissioning of the EDFC between Khurja and Kanpur, there will be better movement of passenger traffic and freight traffic on the Howrah-Delhi line and with the augmented line capacity more trains can be introduced and punctuality will improve. A similar upgrade and re-modelling is taking place in Govindpuri(Juhi) Kanpur yard to prevent detentions of trains entering and leaving Kanpur towards Jhansi and Delhi. This project is scheduled to be completed by Feb 2020.

Got to ride on the E5/E6 Hayabusa Shinkansen today . Same train set meant for the Mumbai Ahmedabad HSR . What a sweet ride. Barely feels like it’s moving even at full speed (320km/h on Tohoku Shinkansen line, same as intended top speed for Mumbai-Ahmedabad). Will ride the N700s on the Tokaido line a few days from now. Also rode the older E4 Yamabiko Shinkansen . These trains and tracks are noticeably smoother than the German ICE and other Euro HSRs I’ve ridden in the past .

A trial of BOXN freight wagons took place on the WDFC on Dec 20th for a distance of 190km between Phulera and Ateli. The wagons were run at 110 kmph with an average speed of 86 kmph in both loaded and empty condition with 25ton axle load weight. Very few sections of the IR network allow such a 25 ton axle load and then freight is run at 45kmph. Most of the IR network is designed for 22.5 ton axle load and possible top speed of 85kmph. The average speed is significantly less 40kmph. DFC's are designed to an international standard of 32 ton axle weight. The new BOXN wagons designed for such speeds seem to be given the designation BOXNS. These BOXN wagons are the open wagons used to carry bulk products coal, stone, ore etc. The covered variety of wagons are designated BCNA and then there are the open wagons designed for container traffic and Ro-Ro operations which are designated BRNA and BWTB(well wagon). The speed certificate for these new BOXNS wagons was only given in September 2016 and it seems they are designed for "high speed" operations on the DFCs:

WDFC and the parallel IR Delhi-Ahmedabad tracks are being equipped with high mast OHE to enable double decker container freight to travel. EDFC OHE is at regular height as the main product that travels along it are bulk goods, ore, coal in BOXN freight cars.

Meanwhile, Modi govt approves restructuring of Indian Railway Service. Instead of over 10 specialised railway services, there will now be one overarching railway service. Part of structural reforms in civil services.

The team members informed that the portion of Upshi to Leh can be surveyed in about four to five months time. They also gave compliance of request made earlier to divert the alignment so that the green patch of this area is disturbed in minimal way.The MP held detail discussions about all the progresses and enquired about the next plan for this winter months. On being asked about feasibility of the railway line, the team said that it’s not possible to predict exact timeline but, yes after sanction it seems broadly that in five to six years line can be constructed as the patch is perfect plane, involves no tunnels, no very high viaducts and the geological conditions also seems stable except some patch which needs more detailed study.Northern Railway’s long demand of land to set-up a camp office and rest house has also been considered and a patch of 3 hectares of land has been identified near Sabu village. Joint inspection of Tehsildar and Railway was completed on 22.10.2019 and railway has submitted its revised letter for allotment of this land to Northern Railway. It was again assured that local administration will try its best to transfer the land at earliest.Since many years, there was a demand of Railway line in Leh area in Ladakh. Many a times letters were written to Northern Railway to complete the Final Location Survey in Upshi-Leh portion of the section. Northern Railway earlier engaged M/s RITES to complete Phase -1 of this survey. The work of Phase 2nd and 3rd of this survey has been assigned to a global consultant and work has already been started. As of now, the reconnaissance survey has been completed and satellite imagery has been procured from United States Satellite World View, the best in world through NRSC/ISRO. State of the art technology like RTX and LiDAR is being used in this survey to make it completed in limited time as the high altitude portion gets closed during winter.

The new Trainsets of the Vande Bharat Express will be able to reach the speed of 160 kmph in just 140 seconds. It will help in saving of 20% in journey time and all equipment are suitable for flooding conditions.

The new Vande Bharat trains will be manufactured by ensuring that it meets the changes and recommendations suggested by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO).

The new Trainsets of the Vande Bharat Express trains will come with improved features like higher acceleration/ deceleration and reduction in turnaround time.

These trainsets will be supplied in multiples of basic units of 4 coaches each which can be attached or detached from the train as per requirement.

This will be a major improvement in reliability and operational efficiency as it will be possible to replace basic units in case of defects, or augment the train length upto 24 coaches in case of increased demand.

The present trainsets do not have this feature because of which the entire trainset is rendered ineffective in case of any defect in a coach.

Indian Railways have planned to introduce passenger trainsets with distributed powering, working on 25000 V single phase 50 Hz OHE system in the new Trainsets of the Vande Bharat Express according to the statement

This will help in providing the semi high speed trains with running speed of 160 kmph.

The revised specification takes care of the improvements pointed out by Chief Commissioner for Railway Safety in the prototype rake and will provide more reliable service along with ease of operations and improved passenger comfort

The trainset interiors will have improved fire safety as per EN 45545 HL2 and improved electrical protection and safety with a well-defined protection scheme for High Voltage roof cable, Automatic fire detection and alarm.

The trainset is also provided with explosion proof, light weight lithium-iron-phosphate batteries specified to provide back up for duration of 3 hours, state of the art aluminium body roof mounted packaged unit (RMPU) type air-conditioning units with thermal comfort based Microprocessor controller. The peak efficiency of propulsion system of these trainsets will not be less than 87% which provides for a more robust, efficient and reliable system.

Target is to roll out 720 coaches by 2021-22, revised design approved by RDSOEnding months of controversy over the move to import complete train sets by floating global tenders and the stiff resistance that followed from senior railway officials and political parties, the Ministry of Railways has finally accorded sanction to the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) here to roll out 45 rakes (720 coaches) of the Vande Bharat Express.

In a communication sent to the General Manager on Saturday, the Railway Board cleared the decks for the ICF to proceed with the procurement process immediately with the specifications issued by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO). Fresh tenders will be floated to procure the propulsion system with revised guidelines on the design and eligibility criteria of suppliers. The ICF was told to ensure that there was no compromise on the Make in India policy.

Seriously, if the mechanical cadre is so pissed on missing out on the fun, send them to build the Leh line

With better acceleration, hope the max operating speed is increased to 180 kmph in select sections or with minor modifications to the tracks. Also, imparting tilting tech will increase the overall average speed. I really hoped in will feature in the next upgrade, but looks like we need to wait for that.

arshyam wrote:ICF is the mechanical cadre, the pissed off guys in this saga were from electrical.

If I am not mistaken, ICF does produce EMU coaches. Isn't Vandhe Bharat train set, an extension of the same concept? Nobody thought ICF had no business making EMUs then.

True, but the EMUs were mostly meant for suburban and a few medium distance operations and posed no threat to loco hauled passenger services. The real serious passenger services were firmly under the loco-hauled mode, which was a preserve of the electrical lobby. The mechanical lobby had a similar hold over the diesel hauled trains, but they had already lost the battle to the electrical guys in the 100% electrification push. So in a way, one could see the T-18 was kind of an empire strikes back moment, where the electrical lobby would have been relegated to freight hauling in the long term, as trainsets took over the passenger segments (T-20 was supposed to provide sleeper services).

Anyway, the above is my speculation, based on what I heard from some people in the know. It makes some sense given that the ICF is usually run by the mechanical department. The official position was that BHEL was excluded from participating in the T-18 trials, hence the brouhaha. BHEL does have a mixed record, though, so not sure how successful T-18 would have been with BHEL electrical equipment, and Medha got the first shot at it. Some of BHEL's recent EMU stock in Mumbai didn't fare all that well, though their WAG-7 (they made a few) locos are usually well designed and reliable.

nandakumar wrote:If I am not mistaken, ICF does produce EMU coaches. Isn't Vandhe Bharat train set, an extension of the same concept? Nobody thought ICF had no business making EMUs then.

True, but the EMUs were mostly meant for suburban and a few medium distance operations and posed no threat to loco hauled passenger services. The real serious passenger services were firmly under the loco-hauled mode, which was a preserve of the electrical lobby. The mechanical lobby had a similar hold over the diesel hauled trains, but they had already lost the battle to the electrical guys in the 100% electrification push. So in a way, one could see the T-18 was kind of an empire strikes back moment, where the electrical lobby would have been relegated to freight hauling in the long term, as trainsets took over the passenger segments (T-20 was supposed to provide sleeper services).

Anyway, the above is my speculation, based on what I heard from some people in the know. It makes some sense given that the ICF is usually run by the mechanical department. The official position was that BHEL was excluded from participating in the T-18 trials, hence the brouhaha. BHEL does have a mixed record, though, so not sure how successful T-18 would have been with BHEL electrical equipment, and Medha got the first shot at it. Some of BHEL's recent EMU stock in Mumbai didn't fare all that well, though their WAG-7 (they made a few) locos are usually well designed and reliable.

Thanks. That does help clarify things a great deal in my mind at least. But on a larger and a more serious note, most businesses expand their operations around certain capabilities. I mean GE didn't set itself up as aircraft engine manufacturers. It was built around their expertise around turbine manufacturing capability. I mean power plants were being produced even before jet engines were manufactured. So, no reason to deny ICF the freedom to manufacture distributed electric power haulage prowess since they did demonstrate such a capability through EMUs.

Something strange happened when I booked a ticket through IRCTC using my phoren card from UQ. Not sure what to make of it. I had given my UQ phone number to ensure that my bank knows it was not a fraad transaction.

I got a call from someone in "Mumbai" (because it had a Mumbai number, not sure if it was spoofed) and spoke to me in an extremely bad English (not the accent, but the grammar) and asked me if I booked "ticket India, India. Yesterday?". I am not sure if it was from Toiletistan or some plain old money scammer trying to find more info about me or my bank details.